Joan Fischer has joined the CALS External Relations team on Sept. 20 as publications manager. In this new position, Joan will edit Grow and various other publications as well as overseeing the content of several parts of the CALS web site.

Fischer has more than 15 years of magazine editing experience, including several years as editor of Wisconsin People and Ideas, the quarterly magazine of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. While she was editor, WP&I was nominated for an Utne Reader Independent Press Award for best regional magazine. Most recently she served as director of communications for the National Center for Media Engagement, a UW-Extension unit that helps public broadcasting stations build community programs and connections.